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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Cingular / March 2006Cingular Lap top Air Card
I bought a new Sierra wireless laptop Air card/modem a few days ago. So far, I'm not too impressed. It doesn't seem to want to hold a signal. At our place out in the country the Communications Manager software indicates three bars, with signal strength usually right at -80 to -84. If I go outside the house it goes up to four bars with a signal of around -74. The problem is that I can sit there and not move the laptop or the antenna and the signal will still disappear. Sometimes it takes ten to 15 minutes to reconnect. Sometimes it seems to do okay only after I reboot. The salesman told me that anywhere I had a good cell phone reception this aircard would work. My cell phone nearly always shows 3 to 4 bars but the aircard gets a poor, unstable signal. Even back in Houston it shows a weak signal, even weaker than in the country. I really had great hopes for this thing as I can't get anything but very slow dial up at our country place, plus I travel for a living and many hotels don't have internet access. I don't know if I have a bad card or exactly what the problem is. Any suggestions. Thanks. I just got the Sierra AC860 and do find it takes a while to get up tp speed. I've actually found better response using non-accelerated connection versus accelerated. It is relatively stable but do see some drops on occassion which I attribute to network issues. I'd think I'd get them to monitor what tower you're hitting (if it's primary use is at house ) to see what may be happening with data traffic through that tower. It sounds more like a network issue. If they won't help with that I'd swap out card before 30 days are up to make sure. I'm assuming it's not an AC860 as you are in country but if it is there is a widely reported issue going from Broadband (3g) to EDGE where it won't transition smoothly. I'm trying to figure out what network settings I need to flush to get it to work. Sometimes I just have to reboot. Bob, is the aircard reception affected by weather like satellite TV is? Yesterday, when I was really having problems maintaining a connection, or even acquring one, we had a heavy overcast. The day before was clear and sunny and I had a pretty stable connection, with only a few drops. I'm considering an external antenna and have been doing some research on that today. The house in the country has a metal roof, which has always affected cell phone service but I still get two or three bars most of the time, depending on where I am in the house. I was getting at least three bars on the phone and the aircard at the same location, but the aircard kept losing signal. I had also considered network problems but I don't know too much about that sort of thing. What is your opinion of an external antenna? The best solution is to try and aircard from another cell provider. Find the one that works the best at your home. Verizon and Sprint also offer Aircards with the added benefit of higher data speed than the Cingular implementation. > Bob, is the aircard reception affected by weather like satellite TV is? > Yesterday, when I was really having problems maintaining a connection, [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > considered network problems but I don't know too much about that sort > of thing. What is your opinion of an external antenna? > The best solution is to try and aircard from another cell provider. Find > the one that works the best at your home. Verizon and Sprint also offer > Aircards with the added benefit of higher data speed than the Cingular > implementation. I was going to say while I'm a Cingular phone customer, I had pretty good experiences with the Verizon EVDO card. I opened a small software development office recently and Verizon told me it would take them 2 months to install my DSL line, so I went out and opened an account with VZW, purchased the EVDO card ($199 plus $500 deposit), and then shared out the connection from my laptop so everyone in the office could use it for internet access. I had 3-4 bars showing most of the time. I did experience occasional drops but the thruput was excellent and it was very usable. In the end, DSL was installed within the return period, I returned the card back in late November and I'm still waiting for my deposit to be returned. Of course the people I handed the deposit to can't refund it, it has to be processed somewhere else so VZW can subtract your prorated monthly bill and cut you a check. As a side note, DSL wasn't particularly reliable, so I also had Comcast data installed and now run both. I've had Verizon out at least 4 times for phone/DSL related issues and it looks like they may finally have sorted things out. I ended up returning the Sierra card to Cingular and ordering a Kyocera KPC650 with Verizon service. Blows the doors off the Cingular/Sierra card. The service is so good at our home in Houston that I am going to cancel our DSL. Service at our home in the country, with metal roof, is about 4x dial up, so acceptable. I had planned on being able to use the EVDO in my business travels to Europe, mostly ITaly with some UK. I am now finding out that EVDO won't work in Europe. Is that true? I guess I can still do wifi over there in most places, but I hate to pay for it. That was the point of getting an aircard. Maybe I should just give up on this and get a Treo 700. >I ended up returning the Sierra card to Cingular and ordering a Kyocera > KPC650 with Verizon service. Blows the doors off the Cingular/Sierra [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > for it. That was the point of getting an aircard. Maybe I should just > give up on this and get a Treo 700. I too considered going this route and cancelling DSL, but my wife would kill me if I took my laptop from the house and left her with no internet :). > I ended up returning the Sierra card to Cingular and ordering a Kyocera > KPC650 with Verizon service. Blows the doors off the Cingular/Sierra [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > for it. That was the point of getting an aircard. Maybe I should just > give up on this and get a Treo 700. Which Sierra Card? You aren't telling us much except you are in an EV-DO covered area. I wouldn't cancel the dsl just yet. The only certainty there is with cellular data is constant change and service outtages during month long upgrades. Cingular is the ONLY carrier that paid my unlimited data bill for me while they upgraded the UMTS network in Seattle to the HSDPA enhancement last fall. Even my plain old 384kbs UMTS had steady throughput at 360kbs for hours on end with no peaks and dives and the latency was pretty low. I had been a CDMA guy for a while but the UMTS was underhyped and overdelivered in my case. During the upgrade, I simply pulled out my UMTS card, slapped the sim into an EDGE card and kept on rolling. If you're going to travel abroad, CDMA-EVDO and devices without a sim are not very promising. 4X dialup? You may have an EV-DO card but those are CDMA 2000 speeds. I'm getting 4 to 5X dialup with my other plan, T-Mobile Edge for 30 dollars a month all you can eat and this is with the not so good S/E GC82I picked up for cheap on a Comp Usa closeout table! It was branded AT&T but I quickly remedied that! If I get a Falcom Samba 75, my limit will be 384kbs rather than 212 with the current EDGE devices since EDGE has always had a 384kbs upper ceiling. T-Mobile will jump into UMTS-HSDPA here in the US but they are already offering it in other countries. The UMTS-HSDPA has so much lower latency than the other offerings. When I get back to the Seattle Area, I'll get to use my hsdpa again. Nice thing about having a sim card is that you don't have to buy hardware from the service provider and only the sim card is activated. Dave >... I'm getting 4 to 5X dialup with my other plan, T-Mobile Edge >for 30 dollars a month all you can eat and this is with the not so good >S/E GC82I picked up for cheap on a Comp Usa closeout table! ... In my experience, the SE GC82 actually a very good card, capable of EGPRS(EDGE) speeds equal to or better than other EGPRS devices I've tested. >It was branded >AT&T but I quickly remedied that! If I get a Falcom Samba 75, my limit >will be 384kbs rather than 212 with the current EDGE devices since EDGE >has always had a 384kbs upper ceiling. Current EGPRS implementations are time slot limited to 192 Kbps; i.e., they won't go anywhere near that maximum theoretical speed. >T-Mobile will jump into UMTS-HSDPA >here in the US but they are already offering it in other countries. The >UMTS-HSDPA has so much lower latency than the other offerings. It is indeed nice. >When I get >back to the Seattle Area, I'll get to use my hsdpa again. Nice thing about >having a sim card is that you don't have to buy hardware from the service >provider and only the sim card is activated. Yep.  SignatureBest regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ> > Current EGPRS implementations are time slot limited to 192 Kbps; i.e., they > won't go anywhere near that maximum theoretical speed. More JN misinformation. Personal experience and published reports show the speed is often up to 200+ Kbps in a good uncrowded signal area. "And though Class 10's theoretical maximum speed is 236 Kbps, we maxed out at 220 Kbps during testing." From a PC Magazine review. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1770749,00.asp "With EDGE I have been seeing speeds between 150-210kb/s." http://www.mobilegadgetnews.com/index.php?showtopic=10388 I am not saying that 200+ Kbps is typical, just that it is achievable under ideal conditions. >> Current EGPRS implementations are time slot limited to 192 Kbps; i.e., they >> won't go anywhere near that maximum theoretical speed. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >I am not saying that 200+ Kbps is typical, just that it is achievable >under ideal conditions. All depends on where and how speed is measured. Different speeds are often the result of different methodology. My post was based on real uncompressed throughput in real world implementations, not peak or cached raw or calculated speed. Many people reporting higher speeds are looking at the results of Data Connect "acceleration" (compression) and/or caching, or are using flawed methodology to calculate raw speed (e.g., multiplying by 10). Maximum theoretical raw speed of EGPRS is 236.8 kbit/s for 4 time slots (the maximum number of slots in current implementations), but that's only under ideal signal conditions, maximum bit rate modulation (rarely used due to error rate issues), and includes overhead. My 192 Kbps is net throughput based on careful measurements under typical real world conditions. SignatureBest regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ> > [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE] > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > rate issues), and includes overhead. My 192 Kbps is net throughput based on > careful measurements under typical real world conditions. The network limit is what I was afraid of. Is the 384kbs limit employed anywhere? This would explain why most mfrs don't bother making the cards go much over 200k. The 214kbs seen using windows is really just the maximum between the card and the os so you aren't really connected at that. Of course, any compression turned on would give a higher apparent speed if the decompression occurs on the os end. I prefer text compression only if at all. Dave >> Maximum theoretical raw speed of EGPRS is 236.8 kbit/s for 4 time slots (the >> maximum number of slots in current implementations), but that's only under [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > The network limit is what I was afraid of. Is the 384kbs limit employed > anywhere? That would be the maximum of 8 time slots. I don't know of any real world deployments that use more than 4 time slots. >This would explain why most mfrs don't bother making the cards > go much over 200k. I don't know of any real world products that can use more than 4 time slots. > The 214kbs seen using windows is really just the > maximum between the card and the os so you aren't really connected at > that. 214 Kbps isn't a legal serial port speed. If you're using Windows XP DUN (Dial Up Networking) with the generic serial modem interface of a PC card your port speed would be set to either 115200, 230400, 460800, or 921600. In order to minimize latency, the highest possible port speed should be set that doesn't cause overrun. For the Sony Ericsson GC82, I personally use the (free) Sony Ericsson Wireless Manager, which manages the interface automatically. My tests of EGPRS over Bluetooth with a Motorola V551 suggest an optimum port speed of 460800. > Of course, any compression turned on would give a higher apparent > speed if the decompression occurs on the os end. Or in the PC card itself. This is why uncompressible data (e.g., compressed ZIP archive) should be used when measuring raw speed. >I prefer text > compression only if at all. I generally agree, although there are times when I'm willing to trade image compression for greater speed. SignatureBest regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ> I tested the Air Card for about 3 days. Worked very well at all locations I tried except the one place I needed (home). Cell reception here has always been on the edge. Move 50 yards up the street and Aircard worked well. Signal strength was NOT a good indicator of success. There were places with much worse signal strength that performed well. Have returned to GPRS/EDGE on my Nokia 6230 which while not blazing fast is serviceable. jeff |
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